First, I really don't understand what we are arguing about here, since my initial comment already says that research and recommendations are much more important

First, I really don't understand what we are arguing about here, since my initial comment already says that research and recommendations are much more important than GPA and GRE. Lets just agree to disagree on the rest. Second, I never questioned the basis of your opinions, you questioned mine (indirectly). Finally, maybe you should have spent more than two seconds googling, since MIT CS does not ask for your GRE scores. See the relevant part in this document (which is available on the page you linked): http://web.mit.edu/admissions/graduate/pdfs/MIT_department_info.pdf http://web.mit.edu/admissions/graduate/pdfs/MIT_department_i... (Edit: Did you go to grad school in CS? Because otherwise the whole discussion loses relevance.)